Meet Current PhD Students

I am a PhD student with a research focus in NeuroAI and Computational Neuroscience.

Claudia Mastrogiacomo is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Biostatistics on the Implementation Science pathway. She is interested in Bayesian methods for causal inference.

Melody is a fifth year Ph.D. Candidate in Biostatistics. Before coming to Yale, she worked as a biostatistician conducting network meta-analyses for clinical trial data. Melody earned a Master's in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor's from Amherst College where she double majored in mathematics and statistics. Her work focuses on study design methodology for cluster randomized trials with co-primary outcomes and hybrid type 2 studies. She is also conducting research in causal inference methodology for cluster randomized trials, which includes mediation analysis and spillover with the presence of non-compliance. Melody's goal is to utilize the growing field of implementation science to expand the field of animal public health, solving animal welfare issues and improving animal health policies.

I am a third-year PhD student in Biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health under the supervision of Prof. Fan Li. My research focuses on developing novel methods in causal inference, with specific interests in principal stratification, mediation analysis, and treatment effect heterogeneity. My broader theoretical interests include semiparametric and nonparametric inference, statistical learning, and the method of sieves. My work is motivated by the application of these methods to clinical trials, observational studies, and social experiments.During my master's studies, I also developed applied work in clinical trial design and sample size estimation under the supervision of Prof. Guangyu Tong and Prof. Fan Li. I am always open to new research collaborations and discussions. Please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

I am a PhD student at Yale School of Public Health, since Fall 2025. My research lies at the intersection of causal machine learning and biostatistics, with applications in clinical trials and observational studies. Before joining Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS), I received my my B.S. from Emory University.

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health, advised by Dr. Hongyu Zhao. My research interests focus on both methodological development and applied analysis involving polygenic risk scores (PRS) and electronic health records (EHR). I develop statistical and AI methods to integrate genetic and clinical data, aiming to enhance disease prediction, risk stratification, and personalized healthcare.

Qixiang Xu is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biostatistics, advised by Professor Laura Forastiere. He is interested in developing causal inference methods for social networks in the case of interference.

Yifei is a Ph.D. student in Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health, advised by Professor Yize Zhao. He earned his M.S. in Statistics and Operations Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the Xi'an Jiaotong–Liverpool University. He is interested in applying deep learning and machine learning approaches to neuroimaging to better understand brain connectivity.

Kerry is a PhD student in the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Department at the Yale School of Public Health. She holds an MSc in Health Data Science from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and worked as a junior statistician at the Oxford Vaccine Group before coming to Yale. She is interested in using real-world data sources to explore treatment patterns and outcomes associated with emerging cancer therapies.

Mata’uitafā (Mata’u) Faiai is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Her doctoral research focuses on the cardiometabolic health of adolescents in American Samoa, a population disproportionately affected by chronic diseases. Her dissertation examines the prevalence of and risk factors for obesity, diabetes, and hypertension using a mixed-methods design that combines qualitative research with innovative social network analysis to investigate how friendship networks and social environments shape health behaviors. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Chaminade University of Honolulu and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health.

Abigail (Abby) Girgis is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. She is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control training program, with research interests spanning gynecological cancers, racial and ethnic health disparities, cost-effectiveness analysis, and health outcomes research. Her dissertation explores cervical cancer, aiming to identify critical factors that advance cancer elimination and improve health outcomes across the care continuum, including prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Before pursuing her doctoral studies, Abby gained experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with roles at Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. Her work spanned immunology epidemiology, chronic disease health economics and outcomes research, and infectious disease global public health. She earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology with a certificate in Comparative Effectiveness Outcomes Research (CEOR) from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Global Public Health from New York University.

Jiaqi Hu is a doctoral student at the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. Having graduated from Peking University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Art degree, she continued to study and conduct research in genetic epidemiology. Her research interest is to identify genetic variants that increase risk for complicated diseases and combine genetic and environmental information to predict individual risk of disease.

Sida (Stark) Huang is a PhD student in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. His research focuses on cancer outcomes and health disparities, with particular interests in screening practices, treatment effectiveness, and the use of real-world data to inform clinical care and policy. Prior to Yale, he earned his Bachelor of Science (BS) in Health Care Policy at Cornell University.

Esther Kang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology with a primary focus on genetic epidemiology. She is a member of Dr. Andrew DeWan's lab in the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE). Her current research investigates genetic contributions underlying fetal growth, anthropometric traits, cardio-metabolic outcomes, and other complex traits.

Yining Li is a doctoral student at the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. She finished her undergraduate study at Peking University with a Bachelor of Medicine degree. She is currently interested in incorporating analytical methods to identify common variants related to different phenotypes, especially those in chronic non-communicable diseases.

Reed Mszar, MPH, MS, is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. His research encompasses cardiovascular and clinical epidemiology, health outcomes and disparities research, and cardio-oncology. Before returning to Yale, he worked in the Division of Clinical Effectiveness and Decision Science at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) where he supported the development of research funding announcements and managed a diverse portfolio of funded studies. Reed also conducted research at Yale's Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) leading projects focused on patient-reported outcomes and shared decision-making, subclinical atherosclerosis imaging, atrial fibrillation ablation disparities, and financial hardship from medical bills.

Erica Salehi is a PhD student in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. She is interested in nutrition interventions during and after cancer treatment to improve quality of life, metabolic health and obesity-related cancer outcomes. Prior to starting her PhD, Erica worked in clinical research as a Registered Dietitian at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center studying the impact of nutrition and exercise interventions among patients with breast cancer.

Katerina Santiago, PhD, MPH, earned her doctoral degree at Yale School of Public Health; her master's in public health from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine; and her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology with Honors from the University of Miami. Prior to her doctoral studies, Katerina worked as a research associate at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine where her research focused on occupational exposures and their association with various health effects such as injuries and cancer and how such risks vary by race and ethnicity. Her current research interests are epidemiology of cancer, with a specific interest in gastrointestinal cancers, and how genetic risk interacts with environmental and occupational exposures.

Soma Barsen is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her PhD research focuses on nano- and microplastics, evaluating exposures and assessing the associated health risks. Soma earned her undergraduate degree in cell biology and neuroscience from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She then pursued a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Simon Fraser University's School of Public Policy to better understand how science can inform public policy and the need to incorporate multiple perspectives, disciplines, and analytical methods. As part of her MPP, she focused on driving evidence-based change by using scientific findings as the foundation for policymaking. Soma’s master's thesis was a novel study she independently designed, exploring household sources of microplastics and strategies to develop effective interventions at the individual, community, and national levels to reduce emissions, exposures, and ecological impacts. Her microplastics and policy research was awarded the top thesis prize at the School of Public Policy and the Gold Prize at the 2021 Canadian National Student and Thought Leadership Awards competition. Further expanding her expertise in environmental research, she earned a Master of Environmental Science (MESc) from the Yale School of Environment, where she applied her research framework to Los Angeles, California. To support evidence-based policymaking, Soma has authored two comprehensive reports for government bodies and presented her findings and recommendations to stakeholders, including government agencies, industry representatives, scientific communities, and the public. These contributions have informed policy discussions at various levels of government. In 2024, Soma started her doctoral research at the Yale School of Public Health. Her extensive multidisciplinary experience in microplastics research and expertise in policy analysis and knowledge translation form the foundation of her doctoral work. Her nuanced understanding of the critical knowledge gaps in microplastics exposure assessment and their implications for human health and public policy positioned her as a valuable addition to the YSPH community. As part of her research exploring the links between airborne pollutant exposures and climate change, Soma is currently a Fellow of the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health where she is undertaking a pilot study to characterize human exposures in wildfire events in urban areas. With support from the Yuet Mei Chin Innovation Fund, she aims to comprehensively analyze microplastics and their chemical degradation products before, during, and after wildfire events and evaluate their toxicological relevance. Given the increasing incidence of wildfires due to climate change, her work will provide insights into the health impacts of these extreme events and contribute to the development of targeted intervention strategies and solutions.

Giselle Bellia is a PhD Student at the Yale School of Public Health, following her graduation from the department of Environmental Health Sciences MPH program. She holds a BA in psychology from Seton Hall University. She is interested in psychiatric epidemiology, with a specific interest in environmental influences on fetal and childhood neurodevelopment. She also enjoys learning about innovative research and statistical methodologies to explore these interests.

Francisco is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Francisco has a background in Ecology, studying climate through the use of tree rings. His research interests meet in the health effects of climate variability, particularly extreme weather events.

Athina Lisgara is a second-year Ph.D. student in Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. She earned her integrated Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from University of Patras in Greece, focusing on Environmental Toxicology. For her Ph.D., she uses MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI MSI) for bottom-up proteomics to study neurodegenerative diseases in the brain. She also explores liver disease by developing novel metabolomic workflows coupled with MALDI MSI and applying deep learning techniques. Athina actively volunteers with Greek Women in STEM and the Yale Undergraduate Mentorship Program.

Xuejuan (Peggy) Ning. Peggy is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine from Peking University Health Science Center and a Master of Health Science in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research interests include climate-related extreme weather events, maternal and child health, sustainable healthcare and environmental justice issues.

PhD candidate in EHS at YSPH MPH in CDE at YSPH, class of 2021

Jean is a PhD student in the Environmental Health Sciences department at YSPH. As a member of the Pollitt Lab, Jean studies personal exposure to complex environmental pollutants using the Fresh Air wristband and tries to understand how these exposures may impact female reproductive health. She is also interested in statistical approaches for analyzing multivariate, high-dimensional non-parametric data. Jean earned her MPH from YSPH in 2019. Before returning to Yale, she worked as an environmental health scientist at an environmental and risk sciences consulting firm based in Boston. Her work involved evaluating epidemiology and toxicology literature, as well as analyzing exposure assessment data in support of causation analyses in litigation and human health risk assessments.

I am a 4th year doctoral candidate in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. My research interest is in the implementation, evaluation and modeling of public health interventions and/or policies geared towards the control of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, hepatitis, and other diseases of global health importance. My doctoral research focuses on improving HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa by studying how the disease changes over time and what social and behavioral challenges affect treatment. Using data from a large, long-running study of people living with HIV, I track patterns in key health markers (like immune cells and viral load) and examine how issues such as depression, stigma, substance use, and memory problems impact treatment success. The goal is to generate insights that can help design better, more holistic HIV care models that improve survival, treatment adherence, and overall quality of life for people living with HIV

Gladys is a PhD student (EMD) in the REVEAL project. Her research interests focus on the dynamics and ecology of rodent-borne viruses. She has a background in molecular biology and biomedical science and her long-term goal is to advance global health through public health research on emerging infectious diseases. Her prior research and surveillance experience spans both human and non-human viruses, with a particular focus on Influenza (SARI & ILI) and non-malarial Acute Febrile Illnesses in Uganda.

Donald Brooks is a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, where his research focuses on modeling emerging viral disease transmission to inform the strategic use of medical countermeasures for outbreak control. Prior to Yale, he served at the World Health Organization as a Public Health Officer in the Health Emergencies Programme Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses Unit, where he coordinated the global COVID-19 programme and led the development of the Strategic Plan for Coronavirus Disease Threat Management. While at WHO, he also worked extensively on emergency immunization, leading COVID-19 vaccination data and analytics, spearheading global efforts on chikungunya vaccination, and guiding preparedness for mpox vaccination. Earlier, Donald was based in Burkina Faso investigating water quality and water-borne illness in developing cities as a Fulbright Scholar. Donald further worked with Dalberg Advisors in Senegal as a public health strategy manager advising Ministries of Health in West Africa on health emergency preparedness.

Cole is a computational biologist with a background in ecology & evolutionary biology of infectious disease. They completed their MSc at the University of Alberta, and their undergraduate education at the University of Toronto. He works at the intersection of disease forecasting and climate epidemiology, and is particularly interested in developing methods to detecting the signal of climate change in patterns of infection, including outbreaks and case data.

Jack Carew is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. His research interests lie at the intersection of vector-borne diseases, climate modeling, global health, and human migration. He has collaborated with teams in Syria, Colombia, Jordan, and Cameroon on projects elucidating environmental and genetic characteristics of malaria and leishmaniasis transmission.

Catherine Lima Chantre is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases Department. Her advisors are Drs. Luke Davis and Sarah Lowe. Her research interests are in forced displacement trauma, HIV risk, and HIV prevention, and designing interventions to improve the health of forcibly displaced youth. MSc Control of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2019) BA Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University (2016)

Kelly is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Her research interests focus on reducing vector-borne and zoonotic diseases in low income countries by identifying social, biological, and environmental risk factors of disease. Specifically, she hope to use molecular epidemiological studies to gain insight into pathogenesis and to improve the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Katherine (Katie) Hill is a PhD candidate in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases working under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Heimer. She is also a Public Health Workforce Development Fellow with the Office of Public Health Practice. Her research interests include substance use, harm reduction, xylazine, kratom, sexual health and behavior, and improving the health of incarcerated individuals.

Jiye Kwon is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She bridges pathogen genomics and transmission modeling to inform evidence-based intervention strategies for enteric and respiratory diseases. In the Pitzer-Weinberger Lab, she integrates genomic and epidemiological data to inform vaccine evaluation and update decisions for rotavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and respiratory syncytial virus. Her expertise spans the emergence of resistance, evaluation of vaccine effectiveness, and real-time assessment of population-level protection, contributing to more responsive intervention strategies globally. Prior to her doctoral studies, Jiye earned her MPH from Yale and conducted research on antimicrobial resistance mitigation in the Pettigrew Lab, including work with the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG).

Torre is a PhD student in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases Department at the Yale School of Public Health. She holds an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management from the University of Oxford and MA in Global Affairs form Tsinghua University, where she was a Schwarzman Scholar. She previously worked as interim chief of staff at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and joined the founding team of the Columbia Climate School. She is interested in the anthropogenic drivers of zoonotic disease emergence, the impact of climate change on health systems, and national and international governance of pandemic prevention.

Elisabeth Nelson is a PhD candidate in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She is interested novel forms of vector control and in optimizing Wolbachia release programs to help with scale-up and expansion into low-resource endemic settings. She is currently working on a Wolbachia release randomized control trial in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her research is primarily focused in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Matthew Ponticiello (he/him) is an MD PhD student pursuing his PhD in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases through the Yale School of Public Health. His research interests include implementation science, LGBTQ health, the treatment of opioid use disorder in criminal legal settings, and mood disorders. Matt is particularly interested in using mixed methods research to improve the uptake of evidence-based care. He is currently living in Lima, Peru working on his dissertation studying barriers and facilitators to and preferences for PrEP delivery among men who have sex with men in Lima, Peru. Matt earned his B.S. in Global and Public Health Sciences at Cornell University. He then worked at the Weill Cornell Center for Global Health under Dr. Radhika Sundararajan. There, his research focused on community-based interventions to improve the uptake of HIV care among medically pluralistic communities. The majority of Matt's work was spent studying novel methods to improve the uptake of HIV care by collaborating with traditional healers in Uganda and Tanzania. Matt also contributed to the development of a community health worker-delivered gestational diabetes screening program in Pune, India.

Savanna Randi is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, where she conducts research in Dr. Michael Cappello’s lab. She earned her MPH at Yale, where she gained experience in parasitology and seroepidemiology. Her doctoral research bridges field-based epidemiology in West Africa with immunology and advanced mathematical modeling to strengthen diagnostic tools and guide targeted control strategies for neglected tropical diseases. Her current work focuses on elucidating the dynamics of hookworm infection in endemic regions, identifying key risk factors for transmission, and developing serological tools to improve infection monitoring. Beyond her research, she is also interested in implementation science, One Health approaches, and the intersection of science and policy in global health.

Hailey Robertson is a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Her research focuses on how climate change influences the ecology, transmission, and global burden of vector-borne viruses, using machine learning and statistical models. Prior to Yale, she served as a Research Analyst & Data Engineer in the Data Lab at the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, and previously at Talus Analytics. In these roles, she contributed to pandemic response efforts with U.S. state governments, supporting high-level decision-making during COVID-19. Her work included developing analytic tools and executive dashboards for governors’ offices, translating epidemiological data for public communication and press briefings, and contributing to policy planning on school reopening, vaccination strategy, and the mental health impacts of the pandemic. She holds a B.S. in Global Health and a minor in Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence from the University of Southern California. Outside of her research, Hailey is actively involved in the policy debate community.

Alexandra Savinkina is a PhD candidate in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She is interested in using mathematical modeling to answer questions at the intersection of infectious disease epidemiology and national and global health policy, with a focus on health equity. Prior to coming to Yale, Alexandra was a data analyst at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and then worked in simulation modeling at Boston Medical Center's infectious disease department. Her current work involves modeling vaccination scenarios and outcomes of various infectious disease interventions in the recent COVID-19 and mpox outbreaks, both within the US and globally.

Natasha Turyasingura is a third year PhD student in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases Department. Before coming to Yale, she worked as a Postbaccalaureate Scholar at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Oncology Drug Discovery and with the Global Health unit and as an Intern in Translational Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. She is interested in how we may use information generated from molecular epidemiological studies to develop novel therapies against diseases afflicting populations in low-resource settings.

Jo joined the Pitzer Lab as a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases in the Fall of 2021, where they use mathematical models to study the dynamics of infectious disease transmission and vaccination in low-resource settings, with a focus on typhoid fever. Prior to arriving at Yale, Jo worked on mathematical modeling and forecasting for influenza and COVID-19 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When Jo is not in class or building models, they enjoy cooking, climbing, and basketball.

Elizabeth is an MD-PhD student with a research interest in infectious disease epidemiology. Before coming to Yale, Elizabeth worked on quantifying the impact of the HIV epidemic on cancer incidence in the US as a fellow in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. She is interested in the use of infectious disease modelling to inform precision public health policy.

Atalay Demiray, MD, MSc, is a second-year PhD student in Health Policy and Management at Yale University. As a first-generation college graduate from Turkiye, he is a prominent advocate of diversity and global health equity. Atalay earned his Master of Science degree in Health Economics, Policy, and Law from Erasmus University, an endeavor enriched by the Jean Monnet Scholarship. His master's thesis, titled "Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Upholding Public Health," was recognized as the Thesis of the Year in the Netherlands. Prior to pursuing his master’s degree, he obtained a Doctor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Koc University. With a solid foundation in both medicine and international policy, Atalay is passionately working towards leveraging technological advancements to foster global health equity and improve public health outcomes. His ongoing research at Yale signifies a step further toward melding innovative solutions with pragmatic health policy frameworks.

Kyle A. Gavulic was born in Flint, MI and raised in the small neighboring town of Goodrich. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and in Medicine, Health, and Society with a concentration in health economies and policies from Vanderbilt University. Prior to affiliating with Yale, Kyle served as a Health Policy Services Analyst in the Department of Health Policy in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. In this capacity, he conducted quantitative health services research, focusing on high-cost prescription drugs and the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval pathway. From July 2020 to May 2022, Kyle also served as Editorial Intern of JAMA Health Forum. Kyle is now a MD-PhD candidate pursuing a PhD in health policy and economics at the Yale School of Public Health and is a member of the SCALE Medicaid Lab under the supervision of Jacob Wallace, PhD. He is a student research fellow at the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at the Yale Law School and an affiliate of the Clinical and Health Services Research Core at Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. His research uses quasi-experimental methods to investigate access to health care including high-cost prescription medications, Medicaid policy and the impact of managed care, LGBTQ population health, and the social and political determinants of health. Kyle also has interest in medical education, most notably pertaining to health equity and structural competency. Since July 2022, he has led a working group to implement new clinical skills curriculum on caring for transgender and gender diverse patients at Yale School of Medicine. He is a member of the Management Team and Co-Chair of the Curriculum Working Group of the Deans' Advisory Council on LGBTQI+ Affairs. He previously served as co-leader of Yale School of Medicine's Chapter of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and has been a mentor to students applying to MD/PhD programs via the Program to Advance Training in Health & Sciences (PATHS).

Stephanie Horsfall (she/her) is a third-year PhD student in the Health Policy and Management department with a policy analysis concentration. Her work takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate power dynamics between individuals, organizations, and state government agencies to determine and implement health policies. Before her graduate studies, she served as a Research Assistant at the Medical Practice Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she collaborated with non-profit organizations and program implementation experts to investigate the cost-effectiveness of novel HIV interventions for mothers and children across international settings.

Tiffany is a Research Associate I at the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) supporting the Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project. Prior to working at CORE, Tiffany received her Master of Public Health in Health Policy, with a certificate in Regulatory Affairs, from Yale School of Public Health. She also received her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from UCLA.

Ruijie Liu is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of health policy, service delivery, and health outcomes, with particular attention to mental health and substance use treatment. These include studies of Medicare and Medicaid reforms, mental health parity laws, public insurance consolidation, hospital payment models based on diagnosis-related groups, and health-related quality of life. Her dissertation project uses causal inference methods and claims data to examine how alternative payment models, alongside service provision requirements, shape the delivery of evidence-based behavioral health treatment and influence physical and mental health outcomes in the context of Medicaid.

Emily Ma is a first-year Ph.D student in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a concentration in Economics. Her research interests include noncommunicable diseases prevention in global settings with vulnerable populations, and the role of upstream social and economic policies in improving population health. She holds an MPH and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Brown University. Prior to joining Yale, she worked as a research associate at a non-profit incubator in Hong Kong, Voyage Limited (formerly Global Development Incubator East Asia), supporting the impact evaluation of a poverty alleviation program in transitional housing. She worked as a assistant researcher in a policy think tank, Our Hong Kong Foundation, where she conducted research on health financing in primary care. ORCID ID: 0009-0000-1274-8436

Sarah Mahoney is an MD-PhD candidate in Health Economics at Yale University. She graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with degrees in Economics and Biology. Her early research focused on maternal and neonatal health, including evaluating the impact of a public health initiative on neonatal outcomes, studying the costs of breastfeeding, and examining the use of donor human milk in neonatal intensive care units. Her current research explores how physician payment models influence healthcare delivery. She examines how participation in different Medicare payment models affects physician behavior, care patterns, and patient outcomes. Drawing on Medicare claims and survey data, she uses tools from health economics to better understand how financial incentives shape clinical decision-making and to identify ways to improve care for patients with complex needs. Her clinical practice provides a practical lens for identifying meaningful policy questions, while economic research offers rigorous methods to evaluate and improve healthcare delivery. Through her research Sarah aims to inform policies that support high-quality, efficient, and equitable care.

Yuting Qian is a Ph.D student in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a concentration in Economics. Her research interests include public policies and the health of the aging population, particularly people with cognitive impairment. She holds an MS in Health Policy and Economics from Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University.

Whitney (she/her/hers) is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department. She is training to be a mixed-methods social epidemiologist, conducting policy-relevant research on housing and health equality through the lens of two growing concerns: climate change and income inequalities. She has conducted research with the Housing and Health Equity Lab since 2020, working on multiple projects in the lab, including Project ReSIDe, a mixed-methods, longitudinal R01 investigating the impacts of rental assistance and diabetes, and the COVID Eviction Project, a series of interviews investigating the impacts of rental moratoria during the pandemic. She is committed to understanding how housing can impact mental and physical health equity. Her dissertation aims to identify how housing displacement due to extreme climate events and eviction impacts individual and community health.

Joy Lindsay is a Ph.D. student in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at the Yale School of Public Health. She is focused on using interdisciplinary community-based participatory research (CBPR) to achieve health equity for Black girls and promote mental and behavioral health in high-poverty U.S. school districts. Joy is also the Founder and CEO of Butterfly Dreamz, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that equips girls to be confident leaders and supports them in achieving their dreams through mentorship, holistic leadership development, and intergenerational community action. Learn more about Joy and her work at joylindsay.com/my-bio.

Campbell is a PhD student at Yale School of Public Health in the department of Social & Behavioral Sciences. He is interested in researching stigma as a driver of disability and community health, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to improve health policy and outcomes for people with disabilities and their communities. He serves as a research assistant with Dr. Katie Wang investigating intersectional disability stigma, and conducts research on how stigma drives outcomes in diabetes. Outside of research, Campbell works with both campus and community organizations and the Connecticut state government to advocate for health equity and disability justice in health policy. Campbell currently serves as chapter lead of CT Insulin4All, and has served as patient advocate and policy advisor with State Comptroller Sean Scanlon and the Prescription Drug Task Force of the Human Services committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. He enjoys mentoring students as a Silliman College graduate affiliate, and chapter leader of the Diabetes Link. Prior to his PhD program, Campbell completed his Masters in Public Health in Social & Behavioral Sciences at YSPH with a concentration in US Health Justice, graduating in 2025. Campbell completed a BA in Social Sciences from Western Connecticut State University in 2023, graduating summa cum laude.

Ashley is a first year Doctoral Student at YSPH in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) Department. She has a background in Medical Anthropology and her current research examines the intersections between racial & gender ideologies, knowledge production and Black maternal mortality within the United States. Prior to arriving at Yale, she worked as a Clinical Research Assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital Brazelton Touchpoints Center, where she collaborated with external partners to develop resources for underserved families.

Elisa Park (she/her) is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her work is focused on LGBTQ+ youth mental health, particularly related to suicide. Specifically, Elisa is interested in studying how young people’s exposure to others’ suicidal thoughts and behaviors can impact their own mental health, and the mechanisms through which these effects may occur. Elisa is committed to better understanding and working to prevent LGBTQ+ youth suicide. Prior to Yale, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University.

Gul Saeed is a third-year PhD Candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. She is also a Research Assistant at the Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science, where she conducts suicide prevention research in low-resource settings in South Asia. Gul’s research primarily focuses on global mental health, suicide prevention, adolescent depression and anxiety, and implementation science. She also conducts research in the areas of health systems strengthening, global access to medicines, as well as anti-corruption. Before coming to Yale, Gul worked with the World Health Organization on multiple research projects focused on promoting good governance and anti-corruption in health and pharmaceutical systems. Gul completed her MPH in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences with a specialization in Global Health from the University of Toronto. She also holds a Bachelor's degree from McGill University, where she pursued psychology and double minored in behavioral sciences and social studies of medicine.

Nimisha Srikanth (she/her) is a Doctor of Philosophy student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale University. She is a NIMH T-32 Predoctoral Fellow in the Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT) in the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA). Nimisha graduated from Texas A&M University in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and from the Yale University School of Public Health in May 2025 with a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences, with a concentration in United States Health Justice. Her overall research goal is to synthesize research, program implementation, and policy advocacy into a comprehensive program aimed at improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health in the United States. Her career goal is to serve as a researcher-activist, teaching and working with young people to create progress in sexual and reproductive health. At Yale, Nimisha is a Graduate Research Assistant at the Substances and Sexual Health (SASH) Lab. Her research at the SASH Lab has focused on adolescent sexual health, substance use, mental health, and social media patterns. She has also worked on community health education workshops and creates content for the lab’s social media team. Additionally, Nimisha works as a health policy fellow under the preceptorship of Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and aides the Reproductive Rights Caucus at the Connecticut General Assembly.

I am a PhD student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health and a Research Fellow at the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation at Yale School of Medicine. Moving through an occupied Hawai'i formed my research interests in grappling with the afterlives of settler colonialism, imperialism, racial capitalism, U.S. militarism, tourism, carceral systems, and environmental justice on health. I am constantly drawn to questions and debates that contend how geographies are created, represented, occupied, shared, transformed, and imagined as they coalesce with movements toward anti-racist, anti-colonial, de-militarized, and abolitionist futures. I lean into community-driven and transnational epistemologies to inform participatory and radical spatial practices for alternatives to state-sanctioned violence. I earned a Master of Arts (MA) in History of Science and Medicine from Yale University, a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Lindenwood University.